Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) Regulations 2022

Viscount Stansgate Excerpts

Thursday 24th February 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Pannick (CB)]

I will make a short contribution. In this very interesting debate, mention has been made of Russians who have obtained funds by corruption and who come to this country and buy property or otherwise invest. Is the Minister confident that these regulations confer power to act against such persons? As he said, the only change that is made by these regulations is to give power to take action against those who have obtained

“a benefit from or supporting the Government of Russia”.

As the Minister rightly said, that concept is narrowly defined in new Regulation 6(4). The fact that you have obtained vast wealth by corruption in Russia, and you have come here and bought property or engaged in other economic activity, is not necessarily sufficient to bring you within the scope of these regulations, as I read them, but I would be delighted if the Minister tells me that I am wrong.

[Viscount Stansgate (Lab)]

My Lords, I welcome the Minister’s statement, and will be brief. I am also very grateful to the Government and the usual channels for enabling us to have a debate tomorrow. However, it is true that the regulations we are discussing today—which I think the whole House supports—are out of date. Indeed, I do not know when my noble friend drafted his amendment, but my guess is that everything has been overtaken by the events we woke up to find this morning.

What is going on is not just war of a kind that many of my generation never thought we would see, but also a battle of ideas and information. This morning, I watched Russia Today. I am not in favour of banning it, because it is interesting and important to know what the other side—as it were—is saying about this conflict. To give it credit, I saw a report from Berlin which listed the overwhelming criticism by European leaders on what is happening. However, I am sure that the Foreign Office and the Government are monitoring what the Russian people are being told. I put it to the Minister that we should do more to influence public opinion, because sanctions, if they are to work, are not going to work just on the people at whom they are aimed. The world is a rather more sophisticated and international place than it used to be. There will be people in Russia who are eager to understand more about what we are saying has happened and for us to use our power of information to counter the disinformation that they are being fed.

[Lord Lexden (Con)]

Could I ask my noble friend what assessment the Foreign Office has been able to make about the extent of internal opposition to President Putin? Were there any signs that sanctions have strengthened that internal opposition to him?

Diplomatic Influence Post Brexit

Viscount Stansgate Excerpts

Wednesday 12th January 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con)]

My Lords, that is not the Government’s view at all. We engage on a very regular basis with our friends and allies across the European Union. It is also worth mentioning the obvious point of NATO. Continental European security is directly linked to UK security. We work closely through NATO, the Joint Expeditionary Force, and bilaterally on counterterror, serious organised crime and illegal migration—a particularly live issue today. As one of only two European nations with truly global military reach, Europe needs our defence and security capability.

[Viscount Stansgate (Lab)]

My Lords, if the United Kingdom’s diplomatic influence is as high as the Minister is claiming, why has the UK still not joined the Horizon Europe programme? Our absence from it is damaging to British science.

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con)]

My Lords, I would love to have time to give lots of examples of where we have exerted disproportionate influence over the last year or two. On the specific issue that the noble Viscount raises, we are keen to formalise our association with programmes such as Horizon; we regard that as a win-win for all, so we are disappointed there have been delays from the European Union and I hope we will overcome them.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

Viscount Stansgate Excerpts

Thursday 2nd December 2021 Lords Chamber

[Viscount Stansgate (Lab)]

My Lords, when the history of this tragic and sad case comes to be written, great credit will be due to my noble friend Lord Collins for having instigated today’s debate which, if nothing else, is about keeping up the pressure which needs to be kept up after so many years. We should all be very grateful to my noble friend for doing that.

I turn to the right reverend Prelate’s maiden speech. It was a very moving personal story, and you could see the reaction of the House to it. It falls to me to congratulate her on her maiden speech, as it did earlier today to congratulate her colleague, who has now left his place, on his maiden speech. I made my maiden speech only seven weeks ago today and had the occasion on a subsequent day to congratulate the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Exeter on his maiden speech, so I have now reached three maiden speeches. I do not know if there are any more Bishops due into the House —someone ought to let me know.

Returning to this case, I, like other noble Lords, walked over to see Richard Ratcliffe when he was on hunger strike outside the FCDO. I echo what was said by my noble friend. It was shameful to see a hunger strike outside our own Foreign Office. I had never met him before. He looked tired, wan, cold and hungry. I did not keep him long. I told him that I had been invited over by my noble friend Lord Dubs and his eyes lit up, I must say, when he heard his name. I did not want to detain him for very long. It was much more important that he talked to the “Today” programme, who were waiting to speak to him, and to “Newsnight” and Channel 4.

It was clear to me, in the very short conversation I had with him, that he does not understand what the Government’s position is on his case, and when I look back to the exchanges we had in this House on 15 November, most of the rest of the House do not understand. I almost feel, again in agreement with my noble friend Lord Dubs, that this is one of those debates where it might have been helpful if the Minister had spoken first. Then we could have examined what he had to tell us—and we are all looking forward to what he has to tell us—to see if we could understand more about the impasse that we face and is being faced now.

When I walked across there, incidentally, I thought of medieval history, because we have a statue of a hostage outside our Chamber, outside Peers’ Entrance. Richard I spent a year as a hostage, if I remember rightly.

I hope I am not being unduly unfair to the British Government, but I am beginning to wonder whether I am lobbying the wrong Government. I would like to explore the relationship between the British and American Governments. My noble friend Lady Chakrabarti said that, from the American point of view, it is a sovereign decision of a sovereign Government whether to pay the money, but I think everybody in this House today agrees that the money must be paid. Interestingly, I read in an internal briefing—it was not remotely secret in any way; it was just a regular internal briefing—from within the State Department that, on 5 September last year, the then foreign ministry spokesperson for the Iranian Government, Saeed Khatibzadeh, said:

“The payment of the UK debt has nothing to do with the release of the dual prisoners. The UK government definitely has a 40-year debt to Iran, and it makes no difference whether a British official has acknowledged the debt or not.”


I must admit that I have never heard it said that the Iranians do not think there is a link. I would be interested to hear in the Minister’s reply what type of connection and contacts there have been between the Foreign Office and the Iran desk in the State Department.

Regarding the JCPOA talks which began in Vienna, which other noble Lords, including the noble Lord, Lord Austin, mentioned, on 21 October this year Robert Malley, who was leading those negotiations as the President’s special envoy, said that he was there

“to have conversations with Iran to deal with regional issues and other issues.”

I would just like to explore whether those other issues might include anything related to the Nazanin case, because I think the House would like to know more about the relationship and the discussions between the British and American Governments. As has been pointed out already, former President Obama had no difficulty—I did not know it was flying cash over in a plane, or whatever it was—so there must be some mechanism by which this £400 million can be paid.

I will leave it there, but I think the Government owe the House, not to mention Richard Ratcliffe and his family, a better explanation and more effort than they have shown so far.

Climate Change: COP 26

Viscount Stansgate Excerpts

Thursday 18th November 2021 Lords Chamber

[Viscount Stansgate (Lab)]

My Lords, the whole House owes a debt of gratitude to my noble friend Lady Young for enabling us to have one of the timeliest debates on one of the most important subjects you could possibly have in this House, which is the future of our planet earth. I, too, congratulate the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Exeter on his excellent maiden speech. I only recently made mine. I think it was five weeks ago today, so I know what it is like to go through it and how relieved I hope he feels now it is over.

It is hard to judge, yet, in what way we will look back on COP 26, and it is hard to know, yet, what longer term success it will have in tackling the problems that we face, but I would like to pay tribute to Alok Sharma and the Minister for the work that has been done, of which we can be very proud. The emphasis on the phasing down of coal rather than its phasing out may have received the most immediate headlines, but there are other issues just as critical to the future, and in my short contribution to today’s debate, I want to mention the risks of biodiversity loss because, as I am sure the House will know, biodiversity loss and climate change are two sides of the same coin.

Human consumption is increasing the demand for resources, and this is leading to planetary change. There is a risk that human activity could push the earth into a substantially altered state. I do not know if your Lordships are familiar with the concept of “earth overshoot day”, but it is the day in any given year when it is thought that human resource demands on the earth exceed what the earth can regenerate. The global population and overall material consumption are both rising, but the earth’s capacity to meet human needs is finite.

I choose a few examples. Land use change is a major driver of biodiversity loss, and many current agricultural practices are unsustainable in the long term. The deforestation of the Amazon is an obvious example. That is why many argue that further expansion of agricultural land should be curtailed. Biodiversity supports agriculture through the provision of natural enemies, pollination and healthy soils, yet it is at risk. Take insects; in the last 40 years in the UK, there has been a reduction of one-third in all insect pollinator species, where they have been measured. Take fish; biodiversity loss in marine fisheries is likely to continue, although populations can recover if managed sustainably, which is why the marine protected areas are so important. However, global heating can threaten that recovery completely, as it affects where different species can flourish. As the oceans warm and become increasingly acidified, the risk increases. There are those who predict that, in the coastal and marine ecosystems of the Asia-Pacific region, exploitable fish stocks might disappear before 2050 under current climate change scenarios.

My final example is the damage that climate change could do to the diversity of our food supply. It is a sobering fact that about three-quarters of all global calories eaten by human beings come from only eight crops, and about 90% of all calories we consume come from only 18. There is a real vulnerability here if global heating adversely affects our ability to grow those crops where we currently do. The Royal Society of Biology points out, as my noble friend said, that the UK is not immune to climate change and its consequences, for there is mounting evidence that it has contributed to flood damage, lost crops, lost livelihoods and lost lives.

In closing, I emphasise that when one thinks about COP 26 and its aftermath, the issue of biodiversity loss is as great as that of phasing out fossil fuels. When the Minister replies, I hope he might say a word looking ahead to next year, when our next challenge will be in April and May in China, where part two of COP 15 takes place, focusing on biodiversity. I look forward to hearing what the Minister has to say in reply.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

Viscount Stansgate Excerpts

Monday 15th November 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Uddin (Non-Afl)]

My Lords—

[Viscount Stansgate (Lab)]

My Lords—

[Lord Ashton of Hyde (Con)]

It is the turn of the Liberal Democrats.